1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lamp assembling apparatus that is installed in a vehicle lamp assembly line and, more specifically, relates to a lamp assembling apparatus in which a prescribed processing, such as working or inspection, is carried out. The prescribed processing is carried out on a workxe2x80x94such as a lamp or a lamp componentxe2x80x94that is supported on the jig, through positioning and fastening the work with the jig, and through driving of the apparatus main body and/or of some equipment disposed on the jig.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plurality of assembling apparatuses, where prescribed processing is carried out on the work, are installed in a head lamp assembly line. Each apparatus main body is provided with some equipment for carrying out the prescribed processing, and with a control part for controlling the equipment, wherein each control part is provided with preset control data for driving the equipment.
A first apparatus disposes an aiming mechanism component inside the lamp body (also called a workpiece). Next, the workpiece is transferred to a second apparatus in which a reflector is attached to the aiming mechanism. The workpiece is then transferred to a third apparatus in which a seal groove is filled with sealing material, a seal leg is engaged with the seal groove, and a front lens is pressed into contact with the lamp body. Next, the workpiece is transferred to a fourth apparatus, wherein the front lens is clamped to the seal leg mechanically with a clip or a clamp screw. Finally, the work piece is transferred to a fifth apparatus, in which luminous intensity distribution is inspected by illuminating the lamp.
In each assembling apparatus that constitutes the conventional headlamp assembly line, the equipment drive conditions that specifically correspond to the type of workpiece (control data for drive control of the equipment) are preset in the control part. Therefore, the control data amount to be input to the control part increases with an increase in processing functions at the assembling apparatus, such as working and inspection, thereby increasing the load on the control part. Therefore, high performance has been required for the control part, which high-performance requirement leads to undesirably increased lamp production costs.
In order to solve the problems in the above-described related art, the present invention provides a vehicle lamp assembling apparatus that reduces the load on the equipment control part of the apparatus main body by relocating some of the equipment controlling dataxe2x80x94for working or inspection of the workpiecexe2x80x94to a non-contact-type memory card disposed on the jig.
To achieve the above-described purpose, the vehicle lamp assembling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes:
a jig adapted to support a lamp component;
an apparatus main body having disposed thereon a positioning and fastening mechanism to fasten the jig to the apparatus main body;
equipment, disposed on at least one of the apparatus main body and the jig, for carrying out a processing operation on the lamp component supported by the jig;
a control part, disposed on the apparatus main body, to control the manner in which the equipment is driven;
a non-contact memory plate disposed on the jig, the non-contact memory plate storing processing information for equipment; and
a non-contact memory reader disposed on the apparatus main body in a position opposite that of the non-contact memory plate when the jig is fastened to the apparatus main body,
wherein the control part drives the equipment based on the processing information read from the memory plate via the non-contact memory reader.
When the jig is positioned and fastened to the apparatus main body, the memory reader on the apparatus main body is positioned opposite the memory plate on the jig. Thus, the processing information that is stored in the memory plate can be read by the non-contact-type memory reader. The control part on the apparatus main body controls the equipment that is disposed on the apparatus main body, and/or on the jig, based on information read by the memory reader.
Since some of the control data for driving the equipmentxe2x80x94which data are necessary for assembling, working, or inspecting the workpiecexe2x80x94are stored in the non-contact-type memory plate on the jig, the amount of the control data to be stored in the control part on the apparatus main body is reduced by as much.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the jig in the vehicle lamp assembling apparatus includes a first jig for supporting a first lamp or lamp-component, and a second jig for supporting a second lamp or lamp-component, wherein the specifications of each lamp are different from those of the other lamp. Further, on each of the first and second jigs is disposed a non-contact-type memory plate which stores processing information, such as driving procedures for the equipment or driving amounts.
The equipment disposed on the apparatus main body and/or on the jig is controlled, by the processing information stored in the memory plate disposed on each jig. That is, processing of the first lamp, such as assembling, working or inspection, is carried out by using the first processing information on the first jig""s memory plate, and processing of the second lamp, such as assembling, working or inspection, is carried out by using the second processing information on the second jig""s memory plate.